Capital Developments

OBZ Square, a new 900-bed residence

Since the past decade, UCT student numbers have grown by 50%; however, this has not been matched by an increase in student accommodation. A large part of UCT?s student population is from outside of the Western Cape, and 20% from outside of South Africa. Ensuring that UCT continues to be the „university of choice? for local and international students largely depends on the accommodation it is able offer. What is more, many poorer students coming from the surrounding townships are faced with extremely unstable living and unsafe travelling conditions, which make it impossible for them to stay on campus for after-hours study. These, and other barriers such as lack of access to mentoring and computer facilities at home, all impact on their achievement at university. Being at residence is the single most critical factor for success.

Our goal is to create a safer environment for all our students, and we are currently establishing “OBZ Square?, a brand new, 900-bed residence on Main Road, Observatory (close to the renowned Groote Schuur Hospital). Thus far we have received lead grants from two major foundations in the UK, as well as donations from alumni supporters in the USA towards paying the costs of building this residence (budgeted at R500 million). The university would like to substantially expand on this support with additional gifts from its community of alumni and friends around the world. Each R100,000 (US$15,000 or GBP10,000) donated over a three (3) year period offers the opportunity to name a room in the residence. A donation of this sort is extremely useful, as it is like an endowment, in that the annual rental of the residence room becomes permanent income for the university. 10% of the income from this fund will be used to support existing residences.

New Engineering Faculty Building

Increasing the numbers of engineering graduates is critical for successful economic growth. To directly support the national imperative to substantially increase the enrolment of prospective engineers, UCT is currently in the process of developing a brand new, state-of-the-art engineering facility. The new building will provide 7200m2 of teaching studios, flat-floor design rooms, high-tech computer labs and pilot scale project facilities. Despite no formal green rating for educational buildings, we have undertaken to design the building to be extremely energy and resource efficient, with an emphasis on sustainability. The construction of the new building requires funding of R180 million.

South Africa’s Government has provided a grant of R80 million and UCT has contributed R60 million. The EBE Faculty’s fundraising target for this campaign has been R40 million and UCT has raised approximately R20 million from corporate supporters. UCT invite other strategic partners to join us in reaching our target.

New School of Economics Building

UCT’s School of Economics is regarded as the premier university-based economics department in Africa. The School teaches the fundamentals of economics to more than 3000 undergraduates each year and trains professional economists at the postgraduate level. It also houses some of UCT?s premier research units. They are: the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), the Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU), the Environmental Policy Research Unit (EPRU) and DataFirst as well as the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL).

The School of Economics has expanded into a new, purpose-designed building on UCT’s Middle Campus. The new building will provide the School with a solid base from which to increase its research and teaching activities, grow its academic staff and postgraduate students and build robust knowledge and capacity in this critical discipline. The total cost of the new School (including the new student admissions building) is some R203,5 million and the government has provided R140 million. Our fundraising target is R63.5 million. Your gift towards this campaign would be recognised through naming opportunities for yourself or your organisation in the world-class venues, as well as strategic priorities, such as bursaries, scholarships, teaching staff and outreach facilities. There are also opportunities for alumni to feature on the Legends and Legacies Wall if you donate more than R100,000.

Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D)

The Centre – the first of its kind in Africa – will harness the modern pharmaceutical industry skills and expertise in the drug discovery value chain – integrating medicinal chemistry, biology, pharmacology as well as drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies.

Together this will create a critical mass of African scientists with the capabilities of developing pre-clinical drug candidates, with a unique focus on the diseases afflicting sub-Saharan Africa. The Centre is uniquely well positioned to overcome the historical African challenge of translating basic scientific knowledge into lifesaving medicines.

The establishment of a state-of-the art drug discovery centre has the potential to lead to seeding a pharmaceutical industry that will seek to address the challenges of infectious and non-infectious diseases that are endemic to Africa, and for which there is a paucity of effective drugs. For more information visit the Drug Discovery and Development Centre website.

In partnership with the South African government through the Department of Science and Technology, the Technology Innovation Agency and the SA Medical Research Council, we are already achieving phenomenal success in advancing drug discovery through relationships with key international organisations such as Bio Ventures for Global Health, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and global pharmaceutical companies.

In addition, we have received huge support for projects from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, European Union, Wellcome Trust, MMV, to name a few.

The University is now requesting additional partnerships, specifically from the pharmaceutical industry, to develop world class laboratories for the Centre, which will be housed in the Department of Chemistry at UCT. Funding goal is USD $2 million to be raised over a period of one year 2012. Naming rights are available for funding.

ABOUT UCT FUND, INC. (USA OFFICE)

The University of Cape Town Fund, Inc. is a U.S. based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The Fund seeks U.S. donors to support scholarships, grants and other assistance on a non-discriminatory basis to UCT students, faculty, and for research projects for improvement of the social, political and economic environment in South Africa and the African continent. Learn more